October 5, 2008

Tonight I started making an inspiration collage and realized that practically all of my photos were from the blogs of "younger" folks. So, I thought I'd explain exactly why younger bloggers actually do deserve the hype that seems to be given, contrary to what some people may think. This is by no means defense to certain age-haters, I write this with a smile on my face! Besides, people who dislike young bloggers wouldn't be reading this anyways, that would be a waste of their time.

I don't deserve half the readers I get, and I'm very aware that a lot of the recognition I've receieved is due in part to the fact that I'm in 7th grade, and that the combination of my small size and blonde hair make that effect more powerful. And while it's very lovely to hear that I dress well for a 12 year old, I would rather my outfits are considered good or bad as if I'm any age. Surely my outfits wouldn't be as well received if I really was that 25 year old PhD student, right?

I hope this doesn't come off as a disney star trying to be taken seriously (sidenote: JoBros want to do a Johnny Cash tribute album. Butcher what's practically a religion, why don't you.) I just find this a very interesting topic, and something that is rarely addressed with the appropriate perspective. Yes, you might not know any 12 year old who knows who Yohji Yamamoto is, but, well, I'm surrounded by 12 year olds every day-and I do.

While I don't deserve the publications I've been lucky enough to receive, younger bloggers both individually and as a group certainly do! Not only for the amazing outfits, photography, and writing that comes from many of these blogs, but the confidence it takes to wear something unusual to school and post your outfits on the internet for the world to see and critique. People are bound to be snide and rude, but the will to go through that just because you want to express yourself really is a passion for style.

What I think is often not recognized is that being in your twenties and older does not necessarily make a person especially stylish, nor does being a teenager and younger make someone automatically have bad taste.childhood flames

Having a good eye for fashion is often something natural. The ability to nicely match a dress and purse doesn't require being well educated and having gone through years of school.hand it over

I often find that many of the younger bloggers have more interesting and sometimes far better style than some older people. Kids don't have dress guidelines and can get away with wearing almost anything we want, no matter how tacky it is, more easily than someone who has a job to go to can.

Also, younger bloggers are on a tighter budget. We don't have closets filled with designer items, and it's so much easier to make Chanel look good than it is to make a stained dress from the Salvation Army look good. Isn't that a little more interesting than an outfit taken right from the runway?these city streetsYou'll also notice that these girls shown here are all dressed very differently. It's not as if a herd of teenagers are getting attention for just being trend zombies. These girls have personal style and individuality!

I'm not quite sure what I'm getting at (it's 2:04 AM, enough said) but age shouldn't make a blog any better or worse. I'm not recommending all of these blogs above because the writers aren't old enough to vote, I'm recommending them because they're wonderful blogs written by people truly devoted to fashion. These blogs are seriously fantastic, and the writers have great style, regardless of age! So please, take a look. They really deserve it.